Love is Invisible
by Miss Lovelin
Summary: When Darwin takes the potion that turns him into a ghost again in order to get closer to Carrie, he ends up being sent to the Underworld. It's up to Carrie, Gumball, and Anais to go on an increasingly perilous and weird adventure in the Underworld and get him back and I don't even know. ...This can only end well. Lots of Carwin here, because there isn't enough on this archive.
1. Prologue

**Hello! First of all, I'd like to thank you for your kind reviews of my first TAWoG story,** ** _Never Alone_** **. I really appreciate the favorites and the reviews it got. To be honest, I don't have much faith in my writing skills, and when I first published my story, I felt really nervous. Your kind reviews encourage me to continue writing, so thank you.**

 **Second of all, yes, the title is silly, it's a reference to Carrie's "Love is invisible" line in "The Love" and I just sat there thinking of clever fanfiction titles and that's... the best I could come up with. As you can see, Lovelin is** ** _so creative *COUGH*_** **GOOD JOB LOVELIN**

 **Anyway, I do not own The Amazing World of Gumball. Enjoy my excessively cheesy rambling about... stuff. This is only the prologue, more or less. It doesn't really get into the storyline until the second (technically first?) chapter. Chapter 2 (1?) will probably be up in a little bit. This is just minor foreshadowing, even though I already spoiled the main conflict in the summary. -nervous laughter-**

* * *

 _Prologue_

 _(Carrie's POV)_

 _It's funny, isn't it?_

 _How love blossoms in the strangest ways, to people you'd least expect..._

 _I never expected him to be my first kiss. I thought that I was like an unbreakable, solid wall of ice. I thought nobody would be able to see through me, see the kind of person I was deep down inside, but that's the moment when I realized that I was wrong. That's when it started. When he became the fire that caused the wall of ice to begin to melt._

 _..._

 _Perhaps that metaphor is ironic, considering the fact that he's a fish, but whatever._

 **(Author's Note: Introduction in a prologue, wow. Onto the rest.)**

Despite one of us being a ghost and the other a living being, we are somehow capable of being able to touch. Perhaps love is powerful enough to break the boundaries between the living and the supernatural. It's inexplicable like that.

Perhaps that sensation is just an illusion to me, brought on by the inescapable joy that I feel whenever I see him. But nevertheless, I'm still happy. I've honestly never felt this happy in a long time.

Darwin is different from others, I think. That's what makes him so interesting. When you suddenly grow lungs and legs and are suddenly thrown into society, living an unfamiliar life on land rather than the sea from which you came from, wouldn't you also be confused? Being a literal fish out of water, having to adapt to something completely foreign to you?

He's innocent, sweet, and helpful, especially when he isn't following any of Gumball's examples or plans. (Let's all agree, Gumball's a pretty bad role model.) But his sense of morality is strong enough that he almost never does. ...Not to mention, he's _really adorable..._ I can't believe I used that word, but it's true...

I would say that he's a goody two shoes. In fact, he is. But you don't find many people like that.

Of course he isn't perfect. Darwin isn't so cheerful all the time. He tends to bottle up his negative emotions to be polite to people, he is afraid of being alone, or replaced...

I can actually relate to that. That's something that surprised me when I found out. Fears that his family and friends could possibly abandon him, a lack of self worth...? He's usually so bright and happy, and it wasn't something I expected from someone like him, but I can't say I never felt like that, too. That's how we grew even closer. It's been said that sometimes the ones with the brightest smiles hurt the most.

When I was around three or four years old, my ghost mother left me all alone when my living father became the Snatcher. I only had my grandmother for company, and being a detached hand... she doesn't do much. I was afraid. Going to school, I tried not to let it show through a façade of deadpan behavior.

 **(AN: The "costs" of the spells in the forbidden book in "The Mirror" took immediate effect on Gumball and Darwin, but apparently, not on Vladus, considering the fact that he recognized Carrie... Maybe it's because he used the spell on himself? I don't know. TAWoG logic is weird and broken, let's leave it at that.)**

Darwin understood how I felt, and I understood how he felt. He came straight from the ocean to find his family, only to watch as he nearly got replaced. If Gumball hadn't sensed his presence that day, he probably wouldn't be here today.

Gumball and Darwin were also the ones who managed to help me get my father back. ...while he died painfully the moment he was freed from the curse, he became a ghost and we were finally able to hug. I'm grateful to the Wattersons for that.

Darwin and I just... know each other. We're able to share our feelings without any trouble.

That's why he's perfect to me, and I hope he never changes.


	2. Sleepover

**As always, I don't own The Amazing World of Gumball.**

 **ThatGuy456- Yeah, I felt awkward putting the Author's Note right in the middle of the chapter... I'll try to avoid doing that.**

 **And so it begins...**

* * *

 _Chapter 1_

( _Carrie's POV)_

At lunch on a Friday afternoon, I sit at a table, scanning the rows of heads rushing into the lunchroom for the brilliant tangelo color I'm so familiar with. I usually go to lunch just because of the free time I have to talk to friends, but Darwin is perfectly fine with letting me possess him if I get hungry. In fact, he seems to _like_ it, which I can't say for most people...

I wasn't really hungry today, though. I wanted to ask a different question.

Darwin finally comes in, taking a seat next to me.

"Hi, Carrie!" he chirps cheerfully, gazing at me with happy blue eyes.

 _He's so cute. Why is he so cute!?_

"Hello, Darwin," I reply. Already, I can feel my face heating up, "So, um... I wanted to ask you a question... It's okay if you say no."

His smile is unwavering, but I can see he's starting to blush as well.

"Are you hungry?"

"No, no, not that," I feel guilt when he looks visibly disappointed, "I'm sorry... but would you..." My boyfriend continues to observe my nervous behavior as I struggle to speak, waiting patiently, "...like to, um... sleep over at my house this weekend?"

The goldfish's eyes widen like saucers, and he stands up, reaching out to take my hands. His smile returns almost immediately.

"Really!?" His voice cracks slightly, I can't help but snicker at how amazed he looks. His facial expression was as if a meteor had just crashed into the lunchroom or something. I grasp onto both of his fins in response to his action.

"Yes, really..." I look away slightly and move my bangs out of the way of my eyes almost automatically. It was clear I was feeling nervous, "I thought it would be fun, just you and me. Besides, I'm not busy this weekend, my dad says it's okay, so I wanted to spend some time with you..."

"YES!" He spins me around in a circle once, the sudden shouting attracting the attention of the rest of the lunchroom, but we didn't care, "Do you mind if I do a happy dance?"

I laugh again, "Of course not."

Darwin proceeds to do a hilarious dance, including an invisible electric guitar "solo" before abruptly stopping, standing up casually as if nothing had just happened. I'm just struggling to stifle my laughter.

The other students were watching, but they all knew we were going out. It wasn't a rare sight to see.

"I'd have to ask Mrs. Mom and Mr. Dad first, but I would love to."

I kiss him on the forehead. He looks completely bedazzled by this, prompting me to stifle another laugh.

"Of course," I repeat, smiling before floating off to the library, as lunchtime was already nearing its end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Darwin's POV)_

 _"_ She asked if you wanted to sleep over!? Just you? Dude, nice! Penny's never asked me that... Maybe she's just too shy..."

I roll my eyes, smiling at Gumball as we started our walk back home. He could somehow connect any topic to Penny and change the subject to being about her.

"Yeah," I reply, "If Mrs. Mom and Mr. Dad say I can go, I'll go, and maybe I could..." I trail off. Considering what happened the first time I became a ghost, perhaps it wasn't a very good idea to do it again. There was something about my first kiss with Carrie that I couldn't forget, though...

Having been both a ghost and a mortal being, I felt a difference when I kissed her in both forms. As a mortal, I can kiss her, hold her hand, and hug her, of course. I think I've said before that love always finds a way... and it's taken me to where I am today. Carrie phases through other people a majority of the time when they interact with her, yet she and I can kiss or hug easily, without a problem. It's bizarre, but I feel kind of honored that ghostly logic doesn't affect me in the least. But like all spirits, she's _cold._ Not emotionally, needless to say, but physically. I don't necessarily mind that, nonetheless...

As a ghost, she felt _warm_ to me somehow. As if she were a living, mortal being herself. Because Carrie's a spirit, she doesn't have any body heat because she doesn't even have a body. But to another spirit, there was a odd kind of warmth if they were to touch. It's strange...

However, it was an extraordinary feeling. I kind of wanted to experience it again, just once, if I could...

"Could what?" Gumball asks, confused, snapping me out of my daydreaming.

"Oh, never mind, nothing," I smile nervously. Gumball continues to stare at me with a perplexed expression.

As we head up the steps of our house, I take a deep breath.

 _Here goes..._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

The phone began to ring about ten minutes after I got home from school. I answered, predicting who might be calling me...

Aaaand I was right. Darwin cheerfully greets me on the other line.

"I can come!"

Hearing his little happy voice brought a smile to my face, but I dare not make that obvious.

"That's great, I'll see you later, then?" I ask calmly.

"Yeah, see you soon!"

A quiet moment passes and...

"You're smiling, aren't you?"

My face instantly turns a bright red.

"N-no... I... How'd you know?"

"I remember the tone of voice you use when you're trying to sound calm, but you're actually really feeling enthusiastic about something," he snickers on the other line, "it's cute."

I sigh in defeat. Guess he can read me pretty well, even if he can't see me.

We continued to talk for a little while, straying from the subject of sleepover and just telling each other about how our weeks had gone. After hanging up, I flew around in a rush of adrenaline. I hadn't done a sleepover in the longest time. Most of my friends were kind of put off by my house and spending a night there unnerved them.

But today, the world was finally in my favor.

* * *

 **Next chapter is when it gets super interesting... I apologize for all those line breaks, there's a lot of dialogue in this chapter to set things up.**

 **I'm such Carwin trash guys**

 **It's funny how Gumball got Penny to come out of her shell in a literal sense, and Darwin got Carrie to come out of her shell in a metaphorical sense. Ahahahahaha... that's just really sweet. ...MY HEART**

 **Chapter 2 is going to be crazy guys, I promise**


	3. The Abyss

**NOW THE STORY TRULY BEGINS HERE!**

 **woohoo**

 **gumballtrash- let's be carwin trash together**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

 _Chapter 2_

 _(Darwin's POV)_

 _And so, here I am._

Carrie's house wasn't at all scary to me. Carrying my sleeping bag, pillow, and toothbrush, I quietly wonder why my fellow classmates found her home so foreboding. Gumball and I had been here several times, and we had no idea what our classmates were talking about. There are days when I feel that I'm the only one who really understands Carrie... The house _is_ haunted. So what? It's a family of ghosts. They're just as ordinary as you would expect in a town like Elmore...

While I was lost in my thoughts, Carrie came to the doorway, phasing through it to hug me.

"Hi, Darwin!" she smiles cheerfully, starting to lead me inside. I love seeing her so happy... Before we started going out, it was difficult to get her to smile or open up about herself... she was always so sad and nobody knew why, although now I know it very well.

If I hadn't kissed her that day, we probably would never have realized how truly similar we were, two entirely different people from entirely different worlds, brought together, to realize we were not quite so different after all.

I walk into the house with Carrie by my side, beaming.

Now that I was here, I wondered if it were possible to become a ghost again, without any consequences...

 _Just to experience being a ghost again, even for just a minute... A minute is all I need. I want to be closer to Carrie, so if I tried, it'll be worth it..._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

He seemed a bit off as we walked in together, seeming to be thinking very deeply about something.

"Are you okay? If something's wrong, you can tell me," I remind him, a bit concerned.

"Oh, no," he snaps out of his trance upon hearing my voice, his little smile brightening, "Nothing's wrong, Carrie. I just have something on my mind."

Curious, I can't help but ask what it is. He freezes for a moment, bearing an almost unnoticeable expression of shock and worry for only a second. I had probably put him on the spot, and after a minute, all he can come up with is...

"It's a surprise."

 _A surprise? Something is definitely up. He took so long to answer and thought I wouldn't notice that... is there something that he's planning? I doubt it would be bad... but maybe I should just watch, just wait to see exactly what he's going to do. If he does something dangerous, I couldn't forgive myself... Maybe it's not my business. I should respect that._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Darwin's POV)_

 _"_ Okay," Carrie replies to me, hints of worry and slight suspicion in her tone. I felt bad for making her feel so uneasy after I had just arrived. Maybe I should have kept it to myself.

 _But we tell each other everything,_ my conscience reminds me, _it wouldn't be fair to her._

Would me becoming a ghost again, even for only a minute, make her happy? It would certainly surprise her.

 _Is it selfish of me to want just one more kiss... that feeling when we kissed, both as ghosts, how sweet and warm that it felt? Is it selfish to want to feel that again, and knowing now that she reciprocates my feelings, it would be all the more sweeter? Was it wrong to desire this?_

 _If I could just feel that sweet sensation one more time, I'd go to the Underworld and back for her._

As we walked into Carrie's room, there was a multitude of shoes. I didn't question it.

There in the corner, however, I saw many sealed jars of strange liquids, some glowing, some fizzing, some doing nothing at all. One of her hobbies was making supernatural potions for several different purposes. She's like Ms. Jötunheim, except Carrie's actually beautiful. If I had the paranormal abilities of the Underworld in my hands, I would do the same thing. As I walked past them, a familiar dark green colored jar caught my eye.

Carrie had been meticulous enough to label the jars so no mistakes would be made. It was quite convenient...

The label on the potion read, " _A mortal being must have only one drop of this potion to be able to see ghosts. If they drink more than that, they become a ghost."_

Quite convenient indeed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

Nothing had really happened for the day, though Darwin seemed a bit excited about something.

I suppose Darwin's "surprise" was just a quick excuse for putting him on the spot earlier. It wasn't really my business after all, which is perfectly fine. I know that prying into other people's business is wrong.

As it was already around 10:30, we started preparing for bed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Darwin's POV)_

It was around 10:30 PM by now. Carrie and I had spent a majority of our day just talking, watching TV together, going for walks in the frosty autumn air... It was nice just spending the time with her.

We fell asleep at around midnight, practically using the hour and a half of time we had in between, just talking until one of us fell asleep. Carrie went first, so I followed suit. But I did not forget my plan. My only chance. It was risky, I knew, but I just wanted it. Even a few seconds as a ghost would be acceptable. All for Carrie.

I woke up at around 3 AM. It was still incredibly dark except for a few of the potion jars and Carrie herself, who shed a ghostly, silvery glow around the room. It's like she was her own night-light.

I take a moment to look at her face. With her soft glow and peaceful smile, I would've mistaken her for an angel if I didn't recognize her.

Gently picking up the small, familiar green jar I'd been searching for, I sneak out into the hallway. If she happened to wake up and catch me drinking the elixir, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, would it?

I unsealed the jar, removing its lid. The sour smelling liquid fizzed like a can of soda as it was removed. Despite the pungent taste I remembered quite well, I was doing this for Carrie. This would be worth it.

I held it up and gulped about half of it down.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

I awoke to the sound of a small glass shattering and hysterical laughter that lasted for a few seconds before complete silence.

"Darwin...?" I call out, still confused and groggy. It was 3 AM, what could he possibly be doing awake at this time?

Getting out of bed, I floated out into the hallway, only to be face to face with another ghost, glowing and pale just as I was, familiar, the remnants of a potion and a few shards of broken glass on the floor beneath. ...and the empty remains of a body, eyeless and flat, as if it were a costume. I immediately recognized the effects of the potion, and exactly what Darwin had done. I gasp.

"Darwin!?" I bolt up in shock, "Wh-what did you-"

SURPRISE!" he shouts, flailing his fins around excitedly.

I struggle desperately to take this all in and stay calm at the same time. I couldn't burst into tears in front of him.

"Do you realize what you've just done!?"

He looks down at the ground warily.

"...Y-yes..."

 _CRACK!_

The wooden floor of the hall had suddenly cracked, an ominous green glow shining underneath. It spreads beneath his feet and splits apart the floor, forming a horrifying green vortex.

 _"All ghosts must remain in the Underworld,"_ a tired old voice moans, as several spectral hands grab onto the ghost of Darwin, trying to drag him down into the pit.

" _All ghosts must return to the grave."_

I grab onto Darwin's fins, desperately trying to pull him back. His face is startlingly calm, almost as if he expected this to happen.

"Why..." I ask him, starting to cry, "why would you do this to yourself...?"

"Because," he begins, giving me a sad smile, "I wanted to do this, just one more time, no matter what happened."

He manages to overwhelm the strength of the arms pulling him down, wrapping his arms around me, and...

It felt like magic. It felt like a bolt of lightning had just surged through me, electrifying all of the objects surrounding me into something brighter, prettier, sweeter, more colorful. For just this moment, I felt safe, comfortable, I thought I was dreaming, going from my worst nightmare to a happy, quiet moment of pure peace.

But as his lips pulled away from mine, we returned to the bitter reality.

"That was worth it," Darwin smiles, crying as he speaks.

"I'm sorry... I only wanted to get closer to you, so I thought if I became a ghost again, we could do _that_. And it was worth it, Carrie. And this..." his pupils constrict in terror as he gazes at the arms pulling him into the sickly green abyss that faded into pitch black, "No... after being able to kiss you like that again, I can't regret this. I would go through the Underworld and back for you." His obvious sobbing and fear read ' _I'm never going to see you again,'_ betraying his words.

"I'm not afraid... I'm not... afraid..."

"No... NO! Please, take me instead! Leave him alone!" I try to go down to the abyss in Darwin's place, but it rejects me,. sending me back up.

"You told me before. You belong to the mortal world, Carrie. They can't take you," Darwin tries to laugh, but it immediately shifts back into crying.

"I love you," he whispers to me before he loses the strength to hold on to the edge of the floor, and the ghostly arms pull him down into the darkness, and the vortex vanishes as quickly as it had appeared, as if nothing had happened. Darwin's body and the glass shards were still present.

I could only watch in horror as this had happened. He'd been taken from me before my very eyes.

Exhausted, terrified, and despairing, the only energy I had left in me was used only to weep bitterly. What could I do?

Suddenly, I snap out of my grieving, wiping my tears. There was one thing...

He didn't deserve to be down there. If he would go through the Underworld and back for me, I'd do the same thing for him.

* * *

 **OH NO. That was really sappy. You can probably taste the cheese as you read it.**

 **Aw heck. I just became the Alan of the TAWOG fanfiction archive. Well, that's okay, because he's my favorite supporting character, but STILL.**

 **oh the cheese. this is hELLA mozzarella you probably should stop reading these notes**

 **Two chapters in a single day? Gee golly gosh, Lovelin, you sure have a lot of free time!**

 **I don't have much else to do on a rainy summer's day, so have this.**

 **The atmosphere is perfect. Poor Carrie.**

 **Next chapter is coming soon!**


	4. Reinforcements

**HI THERE, IT'S ME AGAIN.**

 **gumballtrash- I don't really care about that guy's review, to be completely honest. If he doesn't like my story, that's his opinion and it's fine. Just one negative opinion among the sea of positive ones. I'm not writing this story only for him to enjoy. This is my writing style, what I'm most comfortable with, and I'm writing this for everyone to enjoy, whether it's the Carwin shippers, someone looking for a story with good grammar and spelling, or just someone who's looking for something to read out of boredom. I'm just happy that my work is drawing attention from my favorite authors, and kind, understanding people, and really, that's all I could ever have hoped for when I joined this site. A silly review isn't going to pull me down. I'm going to keep writing the way that I like to, and taking tips from other authors if they have any for me, to improve my skills.**

 **Just out of curiosity, is anyone confused by the inconsistent changes between POV? I can just continue using the third person POV if anyone is confused. This chapter will still use the first person POV, though. And here, we have a different point of view, aside from Carrie's and Darwin's.**

 **This chapter is a bit short, so I apologize. This is the chapter that incorporates Gumball and Anais into the story.**

 **Next chapter will begin their perilous journey... *INSERT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC HERE***

 **sp00ky**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

 _(Gumball's POV)_

 _Something felt... off._

I awoke from a weird dream, tossing and turning until I had realized I was already awake. It was still ridiculously dark outside.

Looking at the empty fishbowl resting atop the nightstand next to my bed, I can't help but feel curious, worried... How was Darwin doing? It had to be at least 4 AM by now... he'd be coming back and telling me everything soon. It felt strange having Darwin gone when we'd spent most of our time together...

My eyes became adjusted to the darkness of the room when a piercing white light flashed into the room. I shield my eyes with both paws, peeking out and seeing none other than Carrie there.

"Carrie!? It's 4 AM, what are you doing!?" I spat, appalled by this intrusion, "You can't just barge into someone's house at this hour! This is called breaking and entering! Are you out of your-"

She sighs. After a closer look, I see that her eyes are red and puffy. She'd clearly been crying. I can't help but feel sorry for her now...

"Oh... Did something happen? Is Darwin okay!?" I'm starting to panic now. Something _was_ off here. Something was horribly wrong.

She slowly and cautiously begins to tell me the entire story of the incident at her house. Darwin took that same potion from the Halloween party we went to last year, drank it, became a ghost, kissed Carrie, and got dragged into the Underworld. I could only sit there, gaping at Carrie as she told me this information. I was going to scold her for leaving labelled potions in her room in the first place, but changed my mind. How was she supposed to know Darwin was going to drink the potion anyway?

Neither of us had noticed that Anais was listening in this whole time from the top bunk.

"I'm going to go to the Underworld and get him back, so please don't worry," she finishes, about to teleport away.

I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here while my little brother was trapped down there, alone and suffering through who-knows-what!

"I need to come with you!" I jump up, grabbing Carrie's hand.

"What!?" Carrie gives me an concerned look, "No! It's dangerous!"

"He's my brother! If I can't go with you, I'll just find a way to go myself!"

Carrie's eyes widen at my questionable choice of words.

"...Fine. You can come with me. Just don't try anything stupid."

Anais clears her throat from the top bunk, a serious expression on her little face.

"I'm coming, too."

"What!?" Carrie and I both reply in unison.

"I've been studying the supernatural recently. I'll be fine. And they're my brothers, too! If Gumball and Darwin are both in the Underworld, I need to save them!"

Carrie groans.

"Okay, okay, you can come, too. It's probably the best option not to go alone."

"Oh, but first," I interject quickly, running to Mom and Dad's room, "Hey, Dad! We're going to go to the Underworld! Don't be concerned if we're gone for a while!"

All I get in response is a thumbs up. Mom was working overtime at the Rainbow Factory, so she wasn't even home. We were basically going scot-free here, which was pretty convenient.

I coolly walk back into my room, where Carrie and Anais were waiting side by side.

"Let's go to my house first. If we're all going to the Underworld, you two need to be ghosts, too," Carrie starts, but I recall something and can't help but interject.

"But you belong to this world, Carrie. They can't take you."

She nods, "They can't take or keep me there because I was born a ghost, but I can come and go as long as I want to if I go there by choice," the ghost explains to us, pausing a moment, "also, I have a passport."

She pulls a passport card out of nowhere.

"You need a passport to go to the Underworld?" Anais asks.

"Don't question it," Carrie replies.

Using Carrie's teleportation ability, we are sent to her house in a flash.


	5. Mortals, Spirits, and the Underworld

**good day everyone,** **Lovelin here with a brand new chapter of CringeFest: Gumball Edition**

 **Dragonlover- You shall not dare question the passport... OR THE SHOES! well what's a fanfiction without a little humor? You want to make it similar to the show as best as you can, but you also have to make it your own little thing. That's my favorite kind of fanfiction, at least. I wish we could choose a third genre, for this fic, it'd definitely be Humor. I try too hard to be funny.**

 **As always, I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball. I also don't own a Nintendo Switch, even though I really want one.**

* * *

 _(Anais' POV)_

I'd never been to Carrie's house before. It felt kind of... empty, bore a creepy vibe, desolate, lonely... well, ghosts are made of ectoplasm, which to mortal beings and earthly objects, are practically nothing at all. The phenomenon could clearly be explained through a single sentence:

Spirits are both part of this world, and not, at the same time.

They can be heard, seen, _felt, but not touched._

Allow me to elaborate:

A ghost is cold to a mortal, but warm to another ghost. Only by being a spirit yourself can you truly experience the sense of _touch_ towards another spirit. You are the same as them then, a being of ectoplasm. Ghosts are warm, just as we are, but mortals cannot sense that because, as I have already stated, spirits are somewhere in between the mortal realm and the supernatural realm. They can be felt by presence, but cannot be touched physically. As Carrie was born a ghost, she is an odd exception to most of this. She can occasionally make contact with mortals, and can always do so with Darwin, a most curious example- but she's still _cold_ to mortal beings, and they are not fully experiencing the phenomenon of _touch._

... I think that was Darwin's aim when he drank that potion. To feel that warmth when he kissed Carrie. I feel pity in my heart that fate had to drag him into the Underworld just for wanting to kiss her. He did it for her. He really loves her...

"Are you ready?" Carrie asks us, having made another jar of the potion that Darwin had drank before, that the three of us had drank before that Halloween. She poured the bitter substance into two cups for me and Gumball to drink. I jump, snapping out of my thoughts, reviewing what I had been researching about the supernatural.

Gumball nods to Carrie, looking solemn, but what happened on that fateful Halloween scarred me. I couldn't imagine how Darwin felt successfully being dragged into the otherworldly pit, watching as everything he knew simply vanish before his eyes... Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine.

...But I had to save him. I nod to Carrie as well. I had to be brave.

Carrie hands us the cups. We drink, have a sudden laughing fit, and suddenly, we're light as air.

We're ghosts again, our bodies beneath us, flat and eyeless like a pair of costumes, just the same as Darwin's body. I shudder at the familiar sight.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

I hold Gumball's and Anais' ghostly hands as the same vortex that had taken Darwin opens up in my bedroom floor, the same spectral arms reaching out to retrieve the two new souls. I feel an intense déjà vu.

 _"All ghosts must remain in the Underworld,"_ the same, drained old voice drones, _"All ghosts must return to the grave..."_

"We're going to dive in," I tell the two siblings. Anais looks nervous, but both of them nod.

"Three."

The arms get closer and closer to us.

"Two."

Anais is shivering, and Gumball is thumb wrestling one of the ghoulish arms with his free hand. I sigh, focusing on the blackness at the bottom of the abyss.

 _Darwin... I'm coming._

"...One."

The force hits us fast as we plummet straight down like the first drop of the steepest rollercoaster, or the ghostly version of falling down the rabbit hole. The vortex closes above us, leaving us to fall in the pitch black abyss. Anais and Gumball are screaming, understandably, but I've done this before.

I stop abruptly, knowing where I am. Anais and Gumball faceplant on the cold ground.

A black old fashioned camera sits on a tall stool next to us, printing out a photograph. Gumball takes it and cracks up.

"Anais! Your face..."

It was a picture of the three of us falling; a reaction photo of the wild ride down as if we'd just ridden a rollercoaster- me with a completely straight face, and Gumball and Anais looking like complete fools. I scoff as it burns into ashes in Gumball's paws. The only camera capable of showing ghosts on film... but the pictures always burn up after a few seconds. Typical joke for new souls in the Underworld.

"Ow!" Gumball rubs his paws together, wincing.

"Welcome," I announce, "to the Underworld."

Anais and Gumball look up at the world of ghosts ahead of them, the labyrinths, the darkness, the screams of pain coming from the bad souls being tortured for their crimes while they were living... and an ominous castle in the distance, glowing an eerie pale green.

Our only light were the torches, ignited with blazing red hellfire, lighting a pathway that we couldn't see the end of, there covered by a purple haze that almost looked like noxious fumes.

They're understandably terrified. But I feel bad that Darwin had to see this sight first and had to go through it, all by himself.

"It's worse than it looks," I tell the siblings, "there's all sorts of traps. Just stay by me and you'll be fine."

Shaking, the cat and bunny ghosts follow me as I begin to lead them into the foreboding shadow.

"So... the passport was completely unnecessary?" Gumball inquires to me suddenly.

"Shut up."

* * *

 **HMmm! INTERESTING STUFF!**

 **Don't worry, we'll check on our little friend Darwin in the next chapter, and Carrie, Gumball and Anais will start to get in some spooky hijinks!**


	6. Judgement and the First Labyrinth

**hello my little reader friends!**

 **Villicus- AAAH YOU'RE TOO SWEET :3 to be honest I don't have much to do over my summer break, so I'm just writing as much as I can...**

 **I know it's not possible to please everyone, and those are very good quotes to share. I want to encourage everyone to write if they have an idea, but be warned, some people don't have anything better to do with their time than bash on the stories of beginner writers. Sometimes this can be justified, if the author is a troll or something, but why even read it if it's a troll and leave a negative review? That's only feeding the troll... I personally believe that Mr. BL's reviews are more mean-spirited than the reviews are actually meant to be. No offense to him, of course, that is only** ** _my humble_** **opinion.**

 **I don't see any stories on that particular dude's account, so who's to say he's a better writer than any of us are? As Villicus says, just do what you love, and we'll be your support!**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball. Now, onto chapter 5 of _Love is Invisible._**

* * *

 _(Darwin's POV)_

 _It... it's so dark. Where, exactly, did I go?_

The only light I am aware of is none other than the ghostly pale glow of my own form. It was no longer a body, of course. As a spirit, I am merely taking the shape of what my body looked like. But I'm not really _all_ there. I'd need my body for that.

But no mortals are allowed in the Underworld.

The rest is unknown to me. Nothing but the shadows. I feel a sense of hopelessness arise, lingering within me. Fear. Panic. Dread. Anticipation for the very worst. My family, Carrie... They must be mourning, wondering how I could possibly be _so stupid..._

My family... was bound to move on sometime, right?

"Darwin Watterson?" A voice calls out to me. A pair of blank white eyes appear from the darkness. I don't think I've never been more afraid. I'm shaking, my legs fail me. The eyes just continue to stare.

"Ten years old," the voice continues, the eyes unblinking, but seeming to bear a glint of sympathy, "how unfortunate when they die so young. Cause of death, presumed _suicide_ through... _unorthodox_ means. Time of death: 3:17 AM. Last words spoken in the mortal realm were 'I love you'..." The voice trails off, perhaps confused. Its stare hardens, seeming to be appraising me.

"There is no need to fear us. We are merely the _servi mortis,_ the servants of death. It is merely our job to evaluate new souls that arrive here. If we cannot decide your placement here, you are to be put in Limbo for the time being. However, since you are only a child, your judgement, even for your cause of death, must be less severe. That is the rule. The Underworld can be an unfamiliar, distressing place for the souls of children, who have not yet matured and most do not understand the circumstances of their deaths, so we must do what we can to ease their discomposure before they are judged for their actions in their former life."

I manage to get on my feet again, taking a deep breath. Was I really dead, necessarily...?

I can't bring myself to listen properly to the voice, though its next words merited my attention.

"You have proven yourself to be a very kind and very well liked person in your life. Your morality and forgiving nature made you well admired by your peers. You never knew your biological parents, but were adopted by the Wattersons. They love you as if you were their own, but you believe you are a nuisance to them... you hid a lot of negativity beneath a positive exterior, despite those who care and love you... Is this, perhaps, what drove you to your death?"

They were forgetting something, I knew. Perhaps the Underworld does not monitor everything that occurs in an individual's life.

"No," I reply, "that's not why I chose to become a ghost."

The eyes in the dark seemed bemused at my choice of words.

"Then, please explain your reasoning."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

Guiding Gumball and Anais through the purple haze was quite a challenge. We heard a sound from a short difference, something we couldn't see. It sounded like the laughter of a child, but warped and distorted. Gumball hides behind Anais almost instinctively.

"There's a monster that lives in here. It can see through this smog. It sneaks up on unsuspecting ghosts and tries to catch them."

Gumball whimpers.

"But it's probably the least intimidating labyrinth monster. Compared to the other ones, this one is like being pursued by a bunch of happy puppies or a unicorn that farts rainbows and poops butterflies."

Hmm... _gross._

This doesn't really help Gumball and Anais, though. The laugh gets louder, the monster drawing closer to us.

"It knows we're here. We need to fly away, now! I know the way out of this labyrinth! Come on!"

I fly as fast as I can, Gumball and Anais following suit, as the monster appears from the haze, a serpentine creature with a messed up looking face- like its laughter, demented, heavily distorted- gnashing its fangs at us, eyes darting in every direction wildly. It flies oddly, in a slightly lopsided way, as if it couldn't focus on a single target.

"Eww... it looks like a giant snake with the face of a... what is that!? It looks really unnatural!" Anais obviously isn't sure what to think of this entire situation.

"IT HAS, LIKE, 1200 ROWS OF SHARP TEETH!" Gumball is screaming now, "ARE YOU SURE THERE ARE OTHER MONSTERS THAT ARE WORSE!?"

"Absolutely," I reply calmly. I teleport away for a moment. Just before the monster could do anything to the siblings, it notices me from far away. It returns that way to find me and gets confused upon finding nobody there. I teleport back to Gumball and Anais.

"What was that!? It could've eaten us and killed us a second time... I don't even know how that works! Would we... cease to exist or something?" Anais continues to talk about how this situation confuses her as I explain my actions, mainly to Gumball:

"The monster is easily distracted, so I made a diversion. I've been through this before. Let's hurry up and go."

I drag them out of the end of the maze, and the monster screeches at us in annoyance. Gumball makes a rude gesture at it as we go.

"Don't provoke it," Anais mutters.

The haze fades away as we make our way into far stranger territory, beyond the first labyrinth. No surprises there, but it only got worse from here on out.

* * *

 **stay tuned for the next chapter of _TALES OF INTEREST! ..._ Wait, wrong show.**


	7. Limbo

**SALUTATIONS DEAR FRIENDS, as you might have noticed, I changed this story's rating to T!**

 **...Kids should not be reading about suicide and stuff, so... Yeah.**

 **TheGuy456- Gumball's honestly a bit difficult to write IMO... I might change the story layout, I may not be using POV properly with this story**

 **Dragonlover- You're darn right that's Futurama, man! And well... it kinda comes naturally for me, I guess? When I feel inspired, I just get to writing. It helps that I have a lot of free time. I'm on summer break, so...**

 **This chapter will adopt the omniscient narration style that The** **Guy456 suggested, just for experimentation, you know? Please let me know in the reviews whether or not you prefer this style.**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

The shadow with the blank white eyes listened to the true story of Darwin's "death", drawing the attention of other _servi,_ whispering amongst themselves.

"It was all done for a girl. You took the potion she created to become a ghost for her?" the first voice asks.

"Yes," Darwin confirms, glancing nervously at the blank wide eyes watching him with fascination, "you know, you told me that you weren't supposed to let children feel any stress in the Underworld..."

"We apologize," the shadows murmur softly, backing away and leaving Darwin alone with the first shadow.

"She was born a ghost, and you loved her enough to give up your own life to be with her," the shadow clarifies.

"Yes, she was born a ghost! But the potion would have allowed me to return to my body if I wasn't forcefully dragged down here!" Darwin raises his voice a bit, growing frustrated with the shadow for somewhat misunderstanding his explanation and seeming to not listen to the fact that he was technically not "dead".

"I just wanted to be able to hold her and kiss her and feel that warm feeling just one more time... I thought-"

"'One more time'?" the shadow echoes, bewildered.

"My brother and I used the potion before, last Halloween," Darwin explained quickly. Immediately, the _servi_ gives an understanding gaze.

"Ah, the day all spirits can roam the mortal realm as they please... and that was the first time you kissed her as a spirit yourself?"

"Yeah," the ghost fish nods, slightly exasperated by the creature's constant desire for clarification and information, "anyway, I thought that this would happen, but... but I'd go through the Underworld and back to make Carrie happy. Sometimes I wonder, I'm so lucky," he can feel his eyes welling up with ghostly tears, glowing just as bright as he was, vanishing as soon as they touched the ground and rising in a small cloud of steam that fades into nothing, "I don't deserve her, and now I've gone too far and lost her for good..." He sits down on the cold dark floor, his form still the sole source of light, wherever he was, and wept.

The eyes observed this, quiet and sympathetic.

"Why do you not think you deserve her?"

"Because I'm... not good enough." Darwin turns away.

"...You are better than you think you are. You were the voice of reason for your older brother and your younger sister actually favored you. You were admired by many of your classmates, and... _you are the only one who can truly see into Carrie's heart._ Not many people can find true love in that way, but at only ten years old, you actually managed it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The three wandering ghosts begin to travel through an area swarming with other spirits, all of which were looking quite bored.

"What is this?" Gumball turns to Carrie for an explanation.

"This is Limbo. One of them, anyway, there's so many that I've lost count. They're what you'd call... a _literal_ ghost town."

Gumball snickers immaturely before realizing Carrie's joke wasn't even funny, much less an actual joke.

Anais looks up at Carrie, her eyes flickering with interest.

"So ghosts stay in Limbo until it's decided that, based on their life choices and actions, whether or not they get punished-" she points to the left side of the Underworld, where spirits were screaming and writhing with pain, burning in a pool of hellfire, or being tortured in some other brutal way (Anais was also on point, directing Gumball's and Carrie's attention to Tartarus _right when its guillotine went off), "_ or rewarded!" Their attention went to the Underworld's right side, where a bright white light was shining through and that's all they could see.

"Correct," Carrie responds, rolling her eyes at the obvious.

As they wandered quietly through this particular Limbo, they saw from a distance was a silver gate to the next labyrinth.

"That's where we have to go next," Carrie tells the siblings, "There's a monster in this one, ten times uglier and more dangerous than the one we just faced."

"Really?" Gumball looks worried, eyeing the silver gate with disdain, "where exactly are we going to get Darwin back?"

Carrie points up at the distant, stormy, foreboding castle far ahead of them, but yet could still be seen.

"If we make it up there, we can ask for Darwin's soul back and go back to Elmore with him. But first..."

A massive, rotting, partially skeletal cat-like creature peers at the three ghosts from over the labyrinth walls, with a pair of sunken red eyes, as they cautiously opened the gates and entered.

Just waiting. Ready to pounce.

* * *

 **BOOM CLIFFHANGER! WHOOPSIES!**

 **and I'm just sitting here wondering what is life**

 **STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF _LOVELIN CRIES OVER THE LACK OF NEW TAWOG EPISODES_**


	8. Second Labyrinth - Worst Fears

**hello it's me again**

 **things got spooky in the last chapter as I so rudely left you on a cliffhanger but don't worry I'm back**

 **thank you so much for all of your support! I'm really surprised, to be honest. I thought I was going to get negative reviews or be ignored so I'm just really shocked I'm getting all of this love... thank you aaaaa**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

"So, what does _this_ monster do?" Anais asks, looking around warily, cringing as the gates loudly shut behind the three ghost children.

"No spirit who's ever made eye contact with the creature has ever made it out of this labyrinth to tell of what they saw," Carrie explains in a nervous manner, but obviously trying to hide it, "Making eye contact with it is said to cause insane hallucinations of the person's fears. It can create an illusion of just about anything, whether it's an object, someone else, or a whole scenario that the person is afraid of, but I've never seen it myself. It only shows itself when it gets hungry, and _then..."_

 _"Great,"_ Gumball mutters flatly, "we're done for, here. We're never going to get Darwin back or be able to go home."

This statement seems to have ticked Carrie off, because after these words were spoken, she _slaps Gumball across the face._

This surprises both Gumball and Anais, the former rubbing his insubstantial cheek with one paw, and after realizing what she had just done, Carrie looks ashamed of herself, taking a deep breath to explain.

I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It's just..." she glances around for the creature, ushering the two other ghosts into a wide hollow into a blackened tree to hide in, "I'm just upset. I wanted to stay positive as we went here, for Darwin, but... but you might be right... I really should have stopped Darwin sooner, and I dragged you two down here as well... I shouldn't have agreed to let you two come with me! This is too dangerous... You didn't know that this kind of thing would happen, but I did, and I was in such a panic that I let you come with... They might have sentenced Darwin already, and because they see drinking a potion to become a ghost as suicide, he might be in..." she's starting to cry now, "n-no, he doesn't deserve that! And they're probably searching for you two as well, in order to sentence you... and I slapped you, Gumball! Aren't you angry with me? What would _he_ think if he saw that...?This is all my fault! I'm sorry!"

Gumball and Anais gape at the ghost girl as she holds onto them, weeping, then glance at each other, giving quick nods before looking back down at Carrie. They'd never seen her cry like that.

"It's okay," Gumball answers calmly.

Carrie looks up in shock, "What?"

"We understand. But you're wrong, and Gumball is wrong," Anais states, "We came down here to get Darwin and return home safely, and that's what we're going to do." She smiles, helping Carrie up, "He's my big brother. I love him. Gumball loves him. And _you_ love him, and he loves you. He'd forgive you because he'd understand, too."

Carrie's face turns bright red as she smiles back, nodding quietly.

"You _really_ love him," Anais giggles, walking out from the tree hollow while holding Carrie's hand, "you'd go through all of this for Darwin. That's really admirable..."

"You see, that's just like me and Penny because we-" Gumball begins, stepping out from the tree hollow as well, Anais and Carrie irritably bracing themselves for a tangent about Penny, but no other sound comes from Gumball.

"Gumball?" Anais asks, confused.

He looks absolutely _traumatized._

Carrie and Anais turn around to see the giant cat-like zombified beast staring Gumball down with glowing red eyes.

" _Oh no,"_ Carrie gasps, covering Gumball's eyes, though he could still see.

"No! No!" The cat apparition suddenly starts to move again, staring straight past the beast, though it's eyes were still glowing, "I haven't changed at all! I don't want to break up, Penny!"

"Is he stuck in a hallucination?" Anais looks to Carrie, her little ears drooping.

"Appears so," the ghost shrugs, "the monster will try to eat him while he's suffering like that, and he'll cease to exist, so we have to snap him out of it somehow!" she looks to her side to see Anais missing from there, and standing in front of the monster instead, staring at it. "ANAIS, STOP!"

"It's only a hallucination. It isn't real; it's just nonsense!" the little bunny says proudly.

The monster switches from Gumball to Anais, releasing the cat from its power. Poor Gumball is rolling around on the ground.

"I'M GOING TO DIE ALONE!" he wails.

"That didn't actually happen," Carrie shouts indignantly, "look!"

Both of them watch as Anais faces her fear, frozen in place. She's clearly scared, but mentally repeating to herself that it isn't real seems to help her. What she doesn't realize is the beast trying to eat her while she's trapped in her nightmare.

"That's MY SISTER!" Gumball screams, picking Anais up and flying away with Carrie through the maze. The surprised and angry creature pursues them with ease. The two reach a dead end eventually, and the cat beast corners them, growling ferociously.

Carrie takes a deep breath, floating up to the creature to take Anais' place. The little bunny ghost is immediately freed, gasping and covering her eyes.

"I'm throwing my Daisy doll away!"

But nothing happens to Carrie. The hallucination spell isn't affecting her, confusing the monster. Gumball and Anais look at each other, then back at this strange scene.

The realization soon dawns on the ghost girl.

"My worst fear," she whispers, the beast seeming to lower itself to her level to hear an explanation,

"...has already happened to me."

Gumball and Anais immediately understand. The monster tilts its head in confusion. For a rotting zombie cat, it was kind of cute.

"Losing Darwin the way I did... the only person that I feel understands me the most, the person who makes me the happiest, the person who makes me feel _alive,_ there's nothing I can imagine that's worse," Carrie mutters to herself.

The beast stands up slowly, the three spirits cautiously, silently watching. It turns away, looking back at them for a moment, before continuing.

"Is it... leading us out?" Anais' eyes brighten.

The ghosts follow the creature as it leads them to the exit, backing away from the gate and watching them respectfully.

"Thank you," Carrie says softly, patting the monster on the head.

The three spirits move on, feeling both terrified and relieved at the same time. Something far worse was up ahead.

* * *

 **Gumball's afraid of losing Penny, Anais went through the dream her Daisy the Donkey doll went through in "The Night" (YIKES!) and Carrie's afraid of losing Darwin, which already happened to her.**

 **What am I afraid of?**

 **Clowns, dolls (not stuffed animals, specifically humanlike dolls), bugs...**

 **Dolls just freak me out! I don't want them in my room, I cover them with a blanket whenever I see them in the toy pile in my living room, and I don't even want to touch them or breathe around them... funny, I know, but...**

 **have you ever watched a short film called "Alma"? If you haven't, you're lucky, don't ever watch it. The ending made me lose sleep for a week. I hate dolls. Oh my god. Ironic how "Coraline" is my favorite movie, but "Alma" is just... no. No. Never again.**

 **...sorry I've been rambling- next chapter will be up soon!**


	9. Like the Sun and the Moon

**Hello everyone!**

 **Villicus- It doesn't happen very often when someone is actually facing their worst fear in reality and manages to stay as calm and composed as Carrie is (trying to be, at least). She's managed to get this far to find the person she lost and faced that fear head on. Perseverance and bravery are respectable qualities.**

 **Also, "if it's in the name of love, then..." *AWKWARD THUMBS-UP***

 **"The Slide" was a weird episode...**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

 _(Darwin's POV)_

I don't know what happened, but something has changed. I was all alone in the darkness, my only company being a shadow with eyes, but now, I am surrounded by light. It's ethereal. There is no pain in my eyes from spending so long in that Stygian crypt, wherever that was, and suddenly going here, a world full of light. It's just peaceful, but it doesn't stop me from being confused or afraid.

 _Am I in Heaven...?_

It takes only a moment to realize that I've changed as well. The incorporeal glow surrounding me had darkened in color; from a pale white to a warm shade of yellow.

"Your placement has been decided," a familiar voice tells me, though I couldn't see it. It's far too bright here to see a shadow.

"We cannot simply return you to the life that you lived. It is much too late for that," the voice drones in a condescending tone, "you found love and foolishly gave up your existence on the mortal plane in an attempt to connect with her, the one trapped between both realms, but it ended up pushing you two further apart."

I don't know how to answer that. I cannot regret my decision. I did connect with her. All I wanted was a single kiss, no matter the cost. I got what I wanted.

...but it _was_ foolish. It was a wild impulse. I won't be able to see Carrie anymore, or ever again. She belongs to the mortal world, and I belong down here now. I won't be able to see my family until they die, too, and they'd probably be angry with me, for how stupid I was... or, perhaps they'd forget about me, buy another fish... The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, and my heart sank. The voice, the invisible shadow, seemed to read my thoughts, as it spoke again:

"You must stop thinking that you will be forgotten. You are loved and remembered, irreplaceable," it sighs, continuing, "because for your kindness and generosity towards all things in your life, you are rewarded. This is Heaven, Beyond, The Great Unknown, Valhalla, whatever you would like to call it. There are not many children that we had the heart to send _the other way_ , perhaps at least Limbo, but you, Darwin, deserve Heaven. You are far too innocent to understand the implications behind your death as 'suicide'. You believed it was something else, merely an out of body experience, like a dream. But you are a spirit, or should I say, an _angel,_ now- therefore, you have died."

I look down at the ground. Only now did I realize that it was too late to ever have a chance of returning. It wasn't a near death experience, an out of body experience, or anything of the sort. To the Underworld, I was dead. Darwin Watterson was dead, and he had no hope of seeing Carrie or his family, or friends, or Elmore, ever again.

This was my home now. I _was_ in Heaven, but it didn't quite feel like it at all. I just felt lost.

"I understand how it feels," the voice muses, "there has been many, _many_ a foolish teenager who lost their life for many strange, silly reasons, and they all regret their actions. They tore unmendable holes in the hearts of their loved ones, dying only to cause pain, and once they realize it was the wrong action to take, they are gone from the world, forever deemed as sad and stupid people who died in vain. They forgot that they were loved, that someone cared about them, and wouldn't want them to do what they did, but they did, and they're just as lost as you are. But I have met very, very few that were as young as you. What a shame when they die so young, especially of their own accord."

Silence. I was left alone.

After that, I thought to myself, did I deserve to be in Heaven, an _angel, no less,_ after hurting my loved ones so much? Was that to make me suffer, even in _Heaven_? Death is cruel to everyone. It doesn't always bring peace. There's always suffering beforehand... but I didn't see my death as a real, actual death... until now.

But yet, I don't feel any regret. I wasn't sure what right or wrong really was in this case.

I look down at my fins, translucent and insubstantial, but the new yellow color and brighter glow made them seem more familiar to me. It made me think- bright yellow and pale white- like the sun and the moon. Carrie was like the moon and I was like the sun- close and yet a million miles away from each other.

The sun dies every night to let the moon breathe. I think I heard a story about that before...

The presence of the invisible shadow returns to me for a single moment.

"Your siblings are wandering where they are not meant to be. We shall attempt to retrieve them before they endanger themselves again."

Another silence. It had left before I could question that statement.

Had Gumball and Anais died, too? Was it my fault? What did they mean by _endanger? Again?_

I had so many questions to ask, fears, worries, stress... nobody would answer them or help me. Considering where I was right now and what those shadows told me, that was unusual, contrary to what one would expect. I know where I am, yet I am lost, and I can do nothing but cry about it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

 _I know they're here. Watching, waiting. They are not aware of me. They only see Gumball and Anais, the ones they believe are dead, the "misplaced" souls that they are seeking. Those blank eyes are observing every move they make._

"Fly," I whisper to them, "fly away as fast as you can. Those shadows with eyes are called the servants of death."

"What do they do?" Anais whispers back to me, clinging to Gumball's hand.

"They're not exactly dangerous, but they'll take you to that castle to evaluate your life and sentence you to where they think you should go."

"Wouldn't we find Darwin more easily that way?" Gumball asks. I shake my head.

"Their other job is convincing souls that escape is hopeless. They'll force you to stay down here forever. You have to fly away. They can't see me because I'm a part of the mortal world, so I'll catch up with you later. Go!"

At my words, Gumball and Anais bolt away as fast as they could possibly go. I watch as the shadows slowly creep along the tunnel-like walls in pursuit, looking as if they were melting, and the walls were oozing a dark substance that spread across the ground. They were everywhere. It was disgusting and disturbing to watch the pathway vanish into pitch black nothingness. I couldn't even see where I was going.

I kept going though, following Gumball and Anais as fast as I could, phasing past the shadows to protect my friends. It was less frightening for me knowing the servants of death couldn't see me, but I couldn't imagine how scared Gumball and Anais must be to be hunted down by dozens of shadows with eyes that don't even blink.

Our only thoughts were to escape from these creatures.

We didn't even realize that in our rush that we had shoved open the golden doors to the third labyrinth and shut them.

This manages to dispel the servants of death, but brings rise to something far more terrifying.

* * *

 **Crap. It appears that our friends are screwed. Whoops. Next chapter coming soon.**


	10. Third Labyrinth PART I and Regret

**lmao last chapter sure was interesting**

 **this one's gonna be a DOWNWARD SPIRAL**

 **I don't own The Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

Another creature's shadow looms over the ghost children. It made no sound as it came toward them. The monster was, however, much smaller and less fearsome looking than expected. Carrie knew all of the labyrinth monsters very well, though, and looks can be deceiving. She continues to brace herself for attacks, but Gumball and Anais immediately start laughing, letting their guard down.

The small creature, merely a red, shapeless blob with tiny yet discernible demon-esque horns in appearance, tilts to the side at the sound of laughter. It had big, wide eyes and actually looked kind of cute.

" _That's_ the last, most terrifying monster?" Gumball nudges the blob creature slightly, and it topples over easily, "It's so small and helpless! This is going to be a piece of cake!" He proudly walks down the path of the labyrinth as Anais and Carrie go after him, the latter more cautious and watching the monster from behind them.

"It's following us," she remarks flatly, trying to remind them that no matter how it looks, it is deceiving. Not even Anais seemed to realize that this was a trap, though at Carrie's words, she becomes more alert, looking back at the creature as well.

Gumball turns to his little sister and Carrie trailing behind him, not noticing the shadow darkening the golden walls of the maze as if all of the lights guiding their way through it had inexplicably burnt out.

"Let's just go through this. I highly doubt this "monster" could do anything to us..." The ghost cat stops in bewilderment, finally noticing how dark it had gotten, "What happened? Are those creepy shadow guys back, or...?" Carrie and Anais bolt past him suddenly, looks of unimaginable terror on their faces, "Hey, guys! Wait for me!"

Carrie starts dragging Anais away for her safety as the latter points behind her brother, motioning for him to run.

The cat turns around to see a pair of white, glowing eyes piercing the pitch-black darkness of the maze, and a gaping mouth that strangely glows in the same way, but oozing the ominous light as some kind of liquid. As if it were some kind of jack-o'-lantern, lit with a candle- but made of wax. It looked like it melting, but never stopped, and the substance had already covered the ground beneath Gumball's feet. The mouth of the creature forms two rows of massive, shark-like teeth, sharpened to a point. Like giant needles.

Of course it was a trap. Of course he didn't realize. There was no other choice but to run, yet he didn't.

"Gumball!" Carrie shouts from over the dead end where Gumball was stuck, "What are you still doing there!?"

"It's too dark to see anything! I keep on hitting the wall! How'd you get over there so fast!?"

"There's still light over here," Anais pipes up, "the monster hasn't reached us yet. You're the closest to it, so it's targeting you. Carrie says this monster can make it completely dark around its target so they can't see where they're going at all."

Gumball glares at Carrie.

"It would have been _nice_ if you had told us that _sooner!"_

"Well, sorry, we were being chased, and this was the only way out!" The ghost girl shrugs, looking indignant, "Here, we'll help you catch up."

"Okay..." Gumball begins, but the other side darkens as well, without warning, and the cat receives no response from his friend or his sister on the other side. Silence, except for the sounds of the slime monster trudging its way through the labyrinth, the ground illuminated by its eerie, foul trail of glowing ooze. Searching for him.

And then he realized the same sounds were coming from the other side of the wall. His eyes nearly pop out of his head as it dawns on him what might have happened to Carrie and Anais.

 _There was more than one monster._

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Detachment from reality. Loneliness. Feeling defeated, stupid, angry at yourself...

Perhaps Darwin finally understood how Carrie's father felt during all those years he suffered as the Snatcher. But this wasn't exactly a curse. Darwin brought this situation onto himself. He wouldn't want anyone to take his place. He wouldn't wish this fate upon anyone.

This may have been Heaven, but Darwin was still feeling alone and lost. One is supposed to be happy here, but how can you be happy with so many unresolved issues in the mortal realm? He hadn't told his family about his plan at all, or had even said a final goodbye or apology for doing what he did, and still didn't know whether his siblings had died as well and were in danger. How would they have died, though...? And did he really deserve to be in Heaven, he still wondered, after so many of the things he'd done to his peers, at school or otherwise (though most of those didn't involve him directly, just from following Gumball around)? There were a lot of things he wanted to apologize for, especially for _this,_ to Carrie, to his siblings, to his parents... what would his family think of someone who seemed so happy to have died of what they'd assume to be _suicide?_

Everyone has to die someday, but a purposeful suicide, forcing it to happen... that's not right. That's dying at the wrong time, dying in vain. It won't please anyone. It only causes pain, guilt and remorse to those around you. Though he hadn't intended to, he was trapped here and hurt his loved ones all at once. This was the cost for one kiss?

 _How is this a 'reward'? How am I supposed to be happy when I know that **I'm** the one responsible for making my family, my friends, Carrie... feel so sad?_

The fish watches the other angels from afar, still sitting where he had first arrived, where the servant of death had left him.

For the first time here, he felt regret. Despair. Not regretting the kiss, of course, but the thought of hurting Carrie the way he did, recalling her tears and terrified expression as he was dragged down here. He'd crossed the line with this...

But even at the threshold of sadness, there's always a little glimmer of hope in his heart. He said he'd go through the Underworld and back for her. Here he was...

She wouldn't forget him, would she?

* * *

 **second part feels like some edgy crap imo... sorry if it is...**

 **It's really hard to write Darwin when he's sad and realizing stuff that just makes him 99% more sad**

 **Favorite character is an innocent cinnamon roll and doesn't deserve this despair help *cries forever***

 **but he's still got that hope**

 **let's _hope_ he keeps it**

 **ahahahahAHAHAHAHA... no that was the worst pun**


	11. Third Labyrinth PART II and Perseverance

**Villicus- I can't thank you enough for supporting my stories so much and reassuring me that my writing skills aren't bad :)**

 **Dragonlover- I look forward to your reviews whenever I post chapters, so I'll be happy to see you when you come back!**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

 **Expect a feelstorm attempt. I also apologize if this chapter is a bit long...**

* * *

Gumball runs, shouting for Anais and Carrie frantically, as the demon beast pursues him, leaving behind a glowing trail.

Said trail barely lights up the pathway enough for Gumball to see ahead of him, finally discovering a way out of the dead end and heading left. Unfortunately, he can't get very far without catching the attention of the other monster, another blob that was colored blue instead of red. As the red monster turns the corner, Gumball tries, and fails, to climb the labyrinth wall. There was a supernatural force keeping them from escaping- that, or the walls are just too slippery to climb. Floating over the wall also failed, so the former was a believable conclusion. He only continued to be blocked by whatever barrier was preventing his escape and faceplanted each time he attempted.

This behavior catches the blue monster's attention. Both beasts begin to corner Gumball. Out of the corner of his eye, the cat sees two glowing shapes from behind Blue. _Those must be Anais and Carrie! The monster attacked them!_

Anais, however, seemed relatively unharmed. She recovers from her shock fairly quickly, shouting for her brother and trying to distract Blue again. This wasn't helpful in the least. The main target for both monsters now was Gumball. He braces himself.

Luckily, this causes an fight between the two demons, and while they are distracted, Gumball barely escapes to reach Anais. He hugs his little sister, gasping for breath from his rush.

"I... hate this place... so much... What happened?"

Anais is on the verge of tears, covering her eyes with her transparent paws.

"The blue monster caught us by surprise, but it attacked Carrie first... I got so scared that I couldn't even move, or scream... It tried to suffocate her... what happens when you die as a ghost? Can you...? If you hadn't distracted the monster, she... I'm really scared! I don't know if she's okay..."

Their fearful, mourning gazes simultaneously turn to Carrie, lying on the ground, completely motionless.

Before they can do anything, however, they see that the beasts have merged into a much larger, deep purple blob, double the eyes, which had turned a deep red, and a second mouth, bleeding a sickly lime green color rather than white. It looked like radioactive waste.

In terror, the siblings run, screaming, inadvertently leaving the comatose Carrie behind. The demon gives chase, ignoring Carrie now, and destroying a part of the wall to make itself more room. Something told Anais that nobody had ever gotten this far in the labyrinth.

They run, run, run in the dark, lit only by green trails of slime. It was like a nightmare had sprung into reality, a nightmare you cannot wake up from because you are already awake.

Or in this case, _already dead._

This was by far much worse than Elmore High's gym class.

Anais eventually trips and falls over, much too tired to continue running. She nearly gets dragged away by the demon until Gumball returns and starts carrying her through the labyrinth, high on adrenaline and narrowly missing golden chunks of the wall that the creature is continuously breaking and smashing down. Its inhuman screeches of anger made Gumball and Anais feel like this was a horror movie, the latter far more traumatized by this experience as a reminder of witnessing her first horror film. She was a four year old girl trapped in a dark maze with a monster chasing her and her unreliable brother. And their _existences_ were on the line. This was far worse than anything she could have imagined.

They had nearly gotten crushed by two walls collapsing from either side of them at once. The pursuit was a whirlwind of destruction, attracting much attention from other spirits, who observe the chase with interest. The labyrinths were used for daring spirits to prove their worth, so they couldn't assist the siblings, only watch them. They all seemed quite shocked that two mere children were the first ghosts to have gotten so far in the final labyrinth. Every other ghost who wandered through those golden gates had ceased to be, they say, though some were concerned about who was going to pay for all of that damage. And a few servants of death were also contemplating the fray, their gazes as blank and lifeless as ever.

Their stares and their surprised and amused muttering only raises the siblings' anxiety. Anais starts shivering violently.

"Would you SHUT UP!?" Gumball shouts up at the faint lights above them in the darkness.

They cannot hear him, or perhaps they do not care. He groans. What a cruel afterlife. He briefly wondered what had happened to Darwin and can't help but share in those sorrowful feelings. He did not know what had happened to Darwin, but he was sad, lost somewhere down here... all alone.

Because Gumball had been distracted by the voices, as well as his own thoughts by a lesser extent, he accidentally rams into a wall that still stands, falling over in defeat. Anais tries to lift him back up to his feet, but to no avail. The beast slowly approaches, a pair of hideous, oozing smiles contorting its face even more than it already was.

"Anais... just go get Carrie and escape," the cat mutters, "I can't..."

Anais has had it now. The little bunny is the one to slap Gumball this time.

"Why are you being so negative here? We did this for Darwin, our brother and _your best friend_! Gumball, you can't give up now! Not here! You'll never see Penny or Darwin or Mom and Dad ever again if you do! What would they think!? COME ON!" Anais screams, her little face turning red from frustration, before she suddenly bursts into sobs, slumping against her brother.

"Come on... Please..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

 _What the hell just happened...? I got caught by a monster, and now... complete darkness. I can't feel anything... I felt like I was being suffocated, plunged underwater, drowning... and then this. Nothing. I feel nothing at all. Is this how it feels to cease existence? Death, which I had never experienced?_

 _Complete nothingness, a blank chasm, zero things other than the dark, myself, and my guilt ... was I gone?_

I float alone in the nullity of this black, vacant space, uncertain and afraid, repeating to myself that I had reached my end and failed everything. I never remembered there being two monsters in the last labyrinth... but I don't remember completing it either. Where were Gumball and Anais?

Someone clears their throat from behind me to get my attention. I wasn't alone. Whirling around in surprise, who else do I see but a familiar, smiling orange face staring back at me, watching me with those big innocent blue eyes of his.

"Darwin!? You're not a ghost anymore? How did you-? What-" I float around the figure in circles, ever so bewildered by this strange sight, but delighted to see him there. I could start crying...

"I'm afraid to tell you this, though it might come as a relief to you, but this is only a dream," the fish looks somewhat guilty, "and I'm not Darwin. ...Well, I am, but not the _real_ one."

"That explains a lot," I murmur in response. I was relieved that this was only a dream, but at the same time, I felt that this was my mind reminding me that Darwin was probably done for by now.

"You're here to tell me to give up, aren't you?" I ask "Darwin" quietly.

"What?" He gives me that same cute confused look that the real Darwin does when he doesn't understand something. It makes me feel worse.

"You're here to tell me," I start imitating my boyfriend's voice and mannerisms, "'Well, sorry, Carrie, but Darwin's pretty much gone by now, so you've lost your chance to save him, but don't worry, he'll always be in your heart... or something cheesy like that, so you should just go on and take Gumball and Anais back to Elmore!'" I turn away, returning to my normal tone, "Right?"

A moment of silence passes, then the dream figure suddenly bursts into laughter.

"No."

I turn back to him, "No...?"

"Of course not," he replies gently, taking my hands just as he did on Friday afternoon. "Quite the opposite, actually."

My face flushes bright red as we both sit down. I lean against him, feeling safer and more secure in the dark.

"I came here to encourage you to find Darwin... er, me. I'm still there, you know. And I'm waiting for you. It's hard being alone down here. I never realized that this was the cost of kissing you just once, just to feel that warmth between us again...

Come find me, Carrie. You can do it. There's no need to be afraid. You've gotten this far..."

I hug him. The closest thing I had to Darwin right now. He hugs me back, and I smile unconsciously.

"Thank you. ... I sometimes feel like I don't deserve you..."

The illusion frowns. "Why?"

"You understand me so well, and you put yourself through all this just to make me happy... I miss you..."

"Well, you know the thing about kindred spirits, you know. We're more alike than you thought, yet so different. I guess 'opposites attract' applies to us, too, right? That's a good thing. Sometimes I feel that I don't deserve you either."

A moment passes before I realize that the dream Darwin is fading away. Backing up, he waves goodbye to me.

"I also came to remind you of one little thing."

I tilt my head. "What's that?"

He smiles mischievously before disappearing completely.

" _W_ _ake up._ "

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV, cont.)_

I awoke amidst more darkness, surrounded by questionable puddles of green ooze that cast light on broken walls.

Floating through the torn apart labyrinth in search of Anais and Gumball, I hear the hushed voices of several spirits from above me.

And then I see Anais and Gumball both weeping at the mercy of an even larger monster than the two from before, unable to move. This creature had two gaping mouths, four red eyes, it was almost like the other beasts had fused... oh.

I teleport in front of the siblings. They immediately brighten up.

"Carrie! You're okay!" Anais smiles.

"We thought you were... nevermind," Gumball looks down at his feet, "we were about to give up."

"Darwin is your brother," I shout, "he's important! Don't give up when he's in danger!"

"That's what I told him! I wasn't going to give up," Anais pouts.

The blob creature glares at me, perhaps confused that I was still here. I take Gumball's and Anais' hands and push the wobbling, supportless labyrinth wall onto the blob's head. With a loud smash, the beast gets crushed beneath the chunk of metal, its purple and green remnants seeping out from underneath.

We're all disgusted as the remains form into smaller red and blue blobs and the lights flicker on again. Thus, the cycle starts again...

We run across the rubble for the exit as fast as we could possibly go. The blobs attempt to stop us again, but we jump for the escape.

As we come out on the other side of the labyrinth, many spirits are applauding for us, but the servants of death are glaring.

Gumball bows and blows kisses to the applauding ghosts as Anais and I watch in embarrassment.

We continue on our way. Anais asks me how I managed to come out of unconsciousness.

"It was only a dream," I reply.

"What was it about?" Gumball asks.

A small smile creeps over my face.

"Perseverance."

* * *

 **I realized the middle part is similar to a part in "The Loop" by Mr. Page. It wasn't intentional while I was writing this, I was just thinking that Carrie needed some extra motivation after all of the trouble from the past chapters. I apologize if it's too similar, and I might change it...**

 **This is also the longest chapter I've made...**


	12. Stormy Weather

**Oh goody an update :) last chapter ended on a very happy note, didn't it?**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

"What _is_ this place? Looks like an evil queen's castle from a fairy tale or something," Anais gazes up at the black-and-green foreboding building above her. "Is it really safe to go in?"

"Well, duh," Carrie replies, a slight laugh in her voice, "we've proved ourselves worthy to enter by completing all three labyrinths."

Carrie never imagined she'd ever get this far, especially with Gumball and Anais, who knew nothing about the Underworld. She had managed to get them all the way here, unharmed (for the most part). They had survived what other spirits considered a death trap. And now, they were right at the castle's gate, and Darwin was waiting somewhere, just for them, as her dream had told her.

It was time. They didn't know how long they had been gone in the mortal realm, but now it didn't seem to matter anymore. This was their last stop. The three push open the bejeweled gates to the castle's entrance, excited, rejoicing, relieved that their journey was almost done...

The ghosts are stopped by the presence of a moat around the castle that they hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it wasn't even there before. It was muddy and the water was brown, flecked with green. It looked heavily contaminated, as the bones of unfortunate aquatic creatures were floating about at the top. Before Carrie, Anais, or Gumball could scream, the skeletal creatures jumped up, dived back into the muck, and swam away.

"Oh, right. This _is_ the Underworld," Gumball mutters, but raises his voice, "ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME!? How are we supposed to get across!? There isn't even a bridge!"

"Fly?" Carrie shrugs.

The siblings try to fly over the moat, but end up getting halted by the same barrier from the labyrinths. They fall into the water, now covered in mud and slime. The supernatural substances even caused their spirits to glow a revolting dark green color.

"So this is another test?" Anais covers her face again. "Fantastic." Her words dripped with sarcasm.

The pair attempt to swim back to the land only a foot in front of them, but it is too late.

A dragonlike creature with three massive heads rises from the depths of the moat, Anais and Gumball finding themselves stuck on one of the heads, too fearful to try jumping down from the staggering height, but their spirits back to their normal pale hue. The creature lets loose a deafening roar, transforming the scenery from a dirty moat around the castle to an open ocean, violent and rough, the underground ceiling now bearing semblance to a stormy sky. Carrie watches as the castle seems to melt into a deep inky black sea before her very eyes, as everything around her drowns away in twisting whirlpools of ebony. She finds herself on a measly little wooden boat, gazing up at the serpentine three headed beast. She was merely a speck to the gargantuan monster.

"A hydra," the ghost whispers to herself as she allows what had just happened to sink in, clinging to the boat for safety. Carrie doesn't even notice when a bolt of lightning strikes the boat and a wave sends it -and her- flying.

"CARRIE!" Gumball and Anais scream after her in unison, though since they are trapped, they cannot save her.

The hydra doesn't seem to take notice of Gumball and Anais at all, not even the head they were stranded sitting on. Its target seemed only to be Carrie. Perchance it acknowledged what they had come here for. Without Carrie, Gumball and Anais would surely become lost and give up their souls to the Underworld. Gumball and Anais were the souls the servants of death had been searching for, and Carrie, to the servants, was being an obstacle that they could not see.

Thus, the hydra, guardian of the objects within the castle, was set to find and destroy the hindrance that interfered with their work.

To Carrie, this beast was to be the 4th and final challenge. It was not a labyrinth this time, but a turbulent, tempestuous sea. And it was only seeking her. She was left to this alone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _(Carrie's POV)_

Thankfully, I managed to recover quickly without falling unconscious again. It took more than a wave to pull me away from my goal. My dream had told me to continue, no matter what. The last time I came here, there was no hydra guarding the castle. Did they put it in after discovering that I had taken the forbidden book from this very castle before?

Pushing the little burnt boat back towards the hydra, I notice a familiar cat and rabbit from atop the head of the one in the center, watching me with anxiety in their eyes.

I was going to save them. I had the willpower to go on. We were so close to our goal, and this was the final thing we had to defeat. Darwin was waiting for us.

My motivating thoughts were cut short by the hydra head on the left lunging down and chewing my boat to bits, leaving me helpless against the screaming waves. The head on the right dives down to pursue me. Gumball and Anais are shouting, but I can't hear what they're saying because of the blasting thunderstorm pelting us from above.

However, the hydra head that comes after me inspires an idea. It was risky, but I was desperate and determined. I teleport randomly in order to confuse the head and tie its neck into a knot. This actually works, surprisingly enough, causing the right head to faint. Unfortunately, the other two heads have learned from that example, and they both lunge at me while I had my back turned.

My capture gives Gumball and Anais the nerve to attempt to climb down and try to save me, but the beast knocks them into the water. They only have a torn up wooden board left over from the destroyed boat to hang onto.

In this moment, we all felt completely done for once again.

 _The cost of one kiss is unfair..._

 _No. I wasn't going to allow this minor setback to stop me. I need to try something else._

"STOP!" I shout, "You don't understand anything!"

The hydra glares at me. Maybe it was only due to the insult, but at least it had stopped...

"These two," I look to Gumball and Anais watching me from below, "and the person we are searching for, are not supposed to be here. Not yet."

The two heads continue to stare at me. I can almost _hear_ them calling me an idiot.

"We are only here to rescue one who has mistakenly died. It wasn't intended to be suicide. He merely _became a ghost_. For me. He could return to his body anytime he wanted to. As can those two. The potion that they drank allows that. They aren't truly dead. I don't understand why you're going so far to keep us from seeing him... The servants of death can't ever understand, it is their job to drive everyone down here into giving up. But surely you could..."

The hydra drops me into the waters, but the sea is more peaceful than before. The head on the right manages to wake up and calmly untangle itself before watching me as well. That's most likely happened more than once, judging by its nonchalant reaction to its own neck being in a knot.

"We only want to see him," Gumball adds, holding Anais up, who is making a sad pouty face, "he's our brother."

The ocean scenery begins to calm down, the storm and rain slowly stopping, the sky turning blue, and the waves becoming smaller and tranquil, before the entire thing begins to fade slowly and turn back into a castle and moat, as if it were only some sort of nightmare. We find ourselves standing on the other side of the moat, the hydra still glaring at us.

A giant red hourglass with skull shaped decorative carvings and black sand inside appears beside us, next to the large doorway to the castle.

The doors slowly creak open by themselves, and we peer inside. It is as confusing as I had remembered. It was like stepping into a mansion in Wonderland. Upside down rooms, puzzles, false exits, illusions...

I'd forgotten to mention this to Gumball and Anais...

The hydra flips the hourglass over with its tail, and the black grains of sand begin to fall to the bottom half. The creature returns into the muddy waters of the moat. The entire moat evaporates and vanishes away as if it had never been there at all.

Then the doors close from behind us, locking themselves shut. We had only twenty minutes to find the room that held the Book of Resurrection, which we could use to bring Darwin back and all four of us to get home. Twenty minutes to find a single room in a topsy turvy castle which had more rooms than anyone could count.

What would happen if the hourglass ran out, we didn't want to know.

"We need to split up and check as many rooms as we can."

* * *

 **okay but if you saw the interior of this castle you'd acknowledge that even twenty minutes is not nearly enough**

 **Next chapter will cover what kind of things lurk in the rooms in this castle and we'll check in on Darwin again.**


	13. The Rooms PART I and Guardian Angel

**hello Lovelin here!**

 **Villicus- UvU Thank you! Ahh you're so nice! Actually, literature, spelling and grammar has always been my strong suit, heck, I could read before I was in preschool. I don't have a proofreader, I actually reread my chapter and check for errors myself, though I miss a few on occasion. My parents don't understand what fanfiction or TAWoG is, they'd probably ask me why a ghost and a fish with legs are in love, or why the fish can talk, because they're old and think that's terrifying, our house doesn't have cable, and I watch cartoons on the Internet, haha... so I wouldn't ask them to proofread... Secondly, I have mentioned I'm on my summer break and I have a lot, and I mean a lot, of free time. Summer gives me plenty of time to find my writing inspiration and get to releasing it through my fanfiction. It kind of comes naturally to me. Lazy in everything but fanfiction writing, because I'm a bored teenage girl with a love for sleeping, cartoons, and writing about those cartoons.**

 **To put it simply, I'm an _otaku_ and I'm proud of it :3**

 **These next few chapters are a bit more... light-hearted than the past few, I'd say. At least with Gumball, Carrie and Anais...**

 **You'll find a lot of references, though a few of the things in the doors are my ideas.**

 **I don't own Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

Gumball wanders through a colorful hallway, that seems to get smaller and more cramped the further he walks. Walking turns to crawling. Crawling turns to slithering. And then he finally reaches a door at the end of the hall. It was the tiniest door he'd ever seen. This had to be some kind of joke...

He opens the door, and it becomes normal sized. The entire hallway becomes normal sized. Hmm...

Gumball closes the door, and it becomes tiny again, and the shrinking hall ceiling hits him on the head. Everything looks normal as he opens the door again, rubbing his bruised, insubstantial cranium, walking inside.

 _Note to self: Do not close._

"Hello?" the cat looks around in bewilderment, flicking on a light switch.

He finds himself surrounded by colorful balloons, and a familiar creepy clown in the corner.

"They all float," the clown says.

Gumball notices a bunch of balloons with faces turning around to look at him, clearly mouthing ' _help us'._

Gumball turns off the light and walks backward, immediately leaving in silence.

"Nope."

The next room the cat ghost visits is just around the corner. Cautiously opening the door, he sees several dogs playing poker, looking like they all came out of an oil painting. The dogs turn and growl at Gumball viciously, so he slams the door shut, trying to ignore the loud barking from the other side.

"Never again."

The room next door contains nothing but an ivory piano under a spotlight. Gumball is compelled to play it, despite his poor piano skills. He starts a botched up attempt at "Chopsticks", but the key lid slips and crushes his fingers.

A skeleton hand crawls out of the dark, pointing accusingly at the failed pianist.

"YOU STINK!"

The cat narrowly misses an _actual axe_ aimed for his head as he runs out of the piano room, shutting the door, hyperventilating and looking at his bruised fingers.

"...Wow... Everything here... is really, really dangerous..."

He hesitantly reaches out for a door on the other side of the hall, and cracks it open only an inch, in fear of the worst.

...And he immediately gets smacked in the face with the bottom of a tiny pink stiletto heel shoe.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Darwin had decided to explore his new home, considering he would most likely be stuck here for a very long time.

It was beautiful, sure, but it wasn't Elmore. And he was still... alone.

As he had expected, Heaven looked like clouds and sky. It was odd, considering it was located in the Underworld. It was a happy looking world with happy looking people.

It would have been nice if Darwin was prepared to go here. But he wasn't.

But he hadn't expected a little girl far younger than he was to be wandering here all alone. And much like he had been before, she was crying and obviously lost.

She was a tiny thing, smaller than Anais, even, with big green eyes and big fluffy blue ears tied up with pink ribbons. She kind of looked like a puppy, and wore an oversized white gown with a hole in the back for her curly blue tail. Just sitting against a little café building and weeping.

Feeling sorry for her, Darwin kneels down to her height.

"Hello," he says gently.

The little girl looks up at him in surprise, her little pink nose twitching. She had an indigo spot around her right eye.

"Hello?" she echoes, wiping her eyes with one floppy sleeve. Her voice is high pitched and squeaky, with an obvious rhotacism. "Awe _you_ my gawdian angel? Will you help me?"

Darwin isn't quite sure how to respond. He was worried saying 'no' to the guardian angel question would make her start crying again. He couldn't refuse to help a child, though.

"My mommy told me that my gawdian angel would help me find my fam'ly up hewe back in the hospital... Awe you him? You glow vewy bwightly."

 _The hospital?_ Those were some sad implications... now he'd never forgive myself if he said no. He felt like crying for this kid.

 ** _"Yes,_** I am your guardian angel," he replies, doing a quick little courteous bow and picking the girl up, "and I _will_ help you. My name is Darwin. So, um... what's your name?"

"Emilia," the little girl murmurs, "but my mommy and daddy and big sistew call me Emmie."

"Okay, Emmie," Darwin smiles, but still feels nervous. "How old are you...? I'm ten."

She smiles cheekily.

"Wow, that's old! I'm two and three-quarters!"'

And with that, the fish's heart shatters into a million pieces.

"W-wow," he starts, trying not to start crying himself, forcing his smile. _Only two!_

"Th-that sure is... little..."

Emmie frowns.

"Don't cry, mistew gawdian angel! My daddy said they just needed me up hewe more than down thewe. My fam'ly up hewe misses me. The nice shadow person told me ev'ything was gonna be okay. I got lost befowe, but then you found me..."

Darwin stops, starting to smile warmly. That outlook reminded him of himself somewhat.

"Well, if you put it like that, you're the kind of person who finds happiness in everything. That's the kind of person I am, too. Let's look for happiness together, Emmie. We're going to find your family."

Emmie's eyes fill with reverence for her "guardian angel" and she takes one of his fins in her small paws as he carries her down the pathway.

"Thank you."

* * *

 **replacing all r's in Emmie's dialogue with w's just establishes a part of her character. I might not include it next chapter if it gets annoying. The second part was extremely cheesy but g** **iving Darwin a cute feelsy task to do while Carrie, Gumball and Anais are suffering is better than making him mope the entire time. This little subplot could return him to being his cute happy self again instead of despair :)**

 **Sorry for putting Gumball through a lot of crap. All three of our little friends gotta go through a lot of crap before they find the thing they want. This is the Underworld. It's the literal pits down in there. Ahahahahaha.**


	14. The Rooms PART II and Comfort

**HELLO AGAIN PARTY PEOPLE**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

Anais struggles to walk up a staircase leading to the hall of doors closest to her. The stairs start to tilt sideways the further she goes up- and then upside down, forcing her to start climbing instead of walking. There wasn't even a railing to hold on to. The moment she gets to the top, the stairs crumble into dust. The little bunny gazes down at the mess in shock and disbelief.

"Glad it didn't do that while I was using it," she mutters nervously, looking around at the doors of many different sizes, shapes and colors in the hall.

"Carrie said we were looking for a book..." Anais reminds herself as calmly as she can muster, "It could be in any one of these. Let's find it."

The little ghost continues her walk, inadvertently tripping on a doorknob in the middle of the floor.

"Ow! How did I miss that...?" She opens the door on the floor, peeking inside cautiously.

A giant jack-in-the-box puppet pops out, causing Anais to reel backward, screaming.

A whole minute passes before Anais realizes the puppet isn't alive and not doing anything at all. Embarrassed at herself, she takes a deep breath and continues on. She reaches a very little door, just her size, with a suspicious button shaped key hanging on the handle. Curious, she unlocks the door and finds an intriguing portal to... another dimension?

The little girl climbs through just to check it out, and it leads her... home?

Confused, she goes to the living room to find her mother and brothers sitting on the sofa, staring at static on the television.

Anais observes this for a moment in concern, clearing her throat.

"Um... Mom?"

The three turn around to stare at Anais, all wide smiles, but with one major difference.

 _Buttons for eyes_.

"Oh, wow," Anais smiles, stepping back and smiling back at the doll versions of her family nervously, "I just realized I had somewhere else to be..." She bolts straight back to the little door and crawls back to the other side as fast as she can, locking the door shut once more back in the castle hall, breathing hard.

"I've seen... that movie. No. No."

She manages to recover after sitting for a while. The next door was bright pink and covered in red hearts. Thinking it was cute, she opens it and steps inside, finding herself in a field holding a giant golden pocket watch.

"...What?"

A strange looking girl wearing a blue pinafore calls to her from a distance, but the bunny had no time for this. While trying to find the exit, she stumbles into another pit. Where she ended up made less sense than the castle. A bunch of giant playing cards march in a line and stop to look at her.

"She's late!"

"The queen will cut off her head!"

The only option in her mind was to run away now. Anais frantically searches for an exit again, trips and falls again into a hollow tree stump, and falls from the castle ceiling back into the hallway, looking up to see a small round pink door with a big red heart on it. Worst exit ever.

As much as she'd like to stop now, Anais had no choice but to keep going. The Book of Resurrection could save her brother, could save all of them from this crazy, horrifying place, and finding it was top priority to her. She still had the pocket watch from before.

"Approximately 10 minutes left..."

She turns a corner only to find herself in a darker part of the hall, with three different doors in front of her, one bright red, one pale grey, and one a soft pastel pink. Next to them on the side was a shadowy, pitch-black room without a door.

Out of this room comes several servants of death, glaring at Anais with their empty eyes.

"Anais Watterson, we have finally found you. You have found yourself at the entrances of Hell," the emotionless voice directs her attention to the red door, "Limbo," the grey door, "and Heaven," the pink door, "or whatever you prefer to call them, what you believe is what you shall see there. And this dark room is where we take souls to be evaluated upon arrival. You and your eldest brother have wandered into territory in which you should never have gone, but thankfully you are both safe within these walls and can be sentenced to your places.

"Quite daring of you two to face and pass all three labyrinths, but alas, your journey was for naught. We do not allow anyone to use or steal the many magical objects here. They are not to be used in the way you wish to use them."

"Objects? All I've found were creepy pop culture references," Anais protests, but the shadow ignores her.

"Four years old, died of yet another suicide... Hmm, all of the Watterson children died in such a way, all so young... What a shame it is."

Anais takes the servant's moment to ponder this as a chance for her to run away, bolting down the halls, stumbling down the stairs that had somehow rebuilt themselves, and shouting for Carrie's help. One half of the servants chase her, while the others go another way to pursue Gumball.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Darwin and Emmie search about for the latter's deceased family, talking all of the while about their lives.

Emmie was a little girl who lived in a town outside of Elmore who had died of a terminal illness affecting her bones. She was confused as to why Darwin starting crying about that, and shortly after taking a little break, she was even more confused about his story about his "death".

"Magic potions exist?" she asks, looking surprised.

"Yeah. Elmore's a pretty weird town, but I love it just the way it is, because it's easy to fit in," Darwin answers in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Do you miss it?" Emmie inquires, looking down, "I miss my mommy and daddy and my big sister Marisol, and all of my friends... I didn't want to go..."

Darwin stops again, sitting on a nearby park bench just to discuss that question.

"...Yes, I do. I never met my birth parents, but I was adopted into an amazing family. I had amazing friends, and my girlfriend..." Guilty feelings come roaring back, "...was an incredible person. She was born a ghost, so I used one of the potions she made and became a ghost too, to be able to kiss her just once, and then I was separated from her by being dragged down here. I didn't want to go here either, but I'm doing it for her. Even if I'm lost and alone here, I have to pull through for her." He looks down to see Emmie looking puzzled.

"That's unfair to both of you for just wanting a kiss... You're not alone. I'm here too... I was scared... I thought going here was unfair, too," she murmurs, "I wanted to become as big as Marisol one day, or even you, mister guardian angel, but now I can't..."

The fish struggles to think of some sort of consolation for the little child, and gently hugs her close.

"I know it's unfair. It's hard to get used to. I was afraid, too, and you're much too little to be here. But you know, this is a new beginning for you. You get to meet all of the relatives that passed before you, and make new friends that you'll get to know far longer than your old ones. Friends like _me,"_ he beams at her, "because this is your new home, your new beginning, and someday the rest of your family will be ready to come here too, and you'll all be a big happy family, right here, together forever. It may not be the same for me, but this opens many doors of opportunity for you, Emmie."

The little girl stays quiet, sniffling softly.

"Are you going to cry?" Darwin asks in concern. Emmie tries to hide her face in response, muttering that she's fine.

"I don't think so," the fish retorts calmly, "but there's no need to be embarrassed about crying. I've done it several times right in front of you," he adds nervously, "Sometimes we can only ease the pain we feel inside by shedding tears. I understand that very well. You _need_ to cry and let those feelings out, otherwise they'll stay and fester and make you feel worse. Especially because this, giving up everything you've ever known, is very hard on everyone."

He honestly can't believe the words coming out of his mouth right now.

"Sadness is toxic, but crying can make it go away. Go ahead and let it out. I'll be right here to comfort you, okay?"

Emmie nods, curling up and weeping softly in his arms.

Darwin closes his eyes, trying not to cry with her for the third time. Letting her cry is the right thing to do. When you need to, it can be healing and soothing to the soul.

The child eventually falls into a peaceful sleep. Darwin takes a deep breath, smiling down at her.

It really helps, doesn't it?

* * *

 **Just imagine Anais going to Wonderland and having the worst time because it's so illogical...**

 **wow Darwin got all insightful in that last bit *clap clap clap* 10/10 best big brother**

 **if my first fanfic didn't imply, we really need an episode with just Darwin and Anais please**


	15. Reunion

**LOVELIN'S SUPER FAST RETURN!**

 **I do not own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

Wandering around Heaven made Darwin wonder just how big the Underworld really was. According to other angels, once you were sentenced, you were never allowed to leave unless you had 'special permission'. It made him feel sorry for the suffering souls on the other side, regardless of the things they've done in their lives. And his previous conversation with Emilia made him wonder about his family. By now, he had been gone for a day. Perhaps they had already replaced him... Maybe the servant of death who had told him that his siblings were wandering where they shouldn't be was only trying to cause him unnecessary stress. Liars.

Emmie stirs in her sleep, slowly waking up from her short nap. She rubs her eyes, looking around, brightening up when she sees Darwin is still there.

"Mister guardian angel!"

The fish chuckles softly at her joyful exuberance, considering she'd cried herself to sleep. "Hi, Emmie! You ready to keep looking?"

The puppy girl nods, giggling as Darwin lifts her up again, and they continue on their way, leaving the bench behind.

"Can you tell me what your family was like?" Emmie asks suddenly. Darwin freezes for a moment, considering whether or not to sit down again, but sighs and continues walking.

"Yeah... Well, how do I put this...? I was originally my adoptive brother's pet fish, and-"

Interrupted by Emmie's little laugh. "That sounds silly!"

"But it's true," the fish confirms in a playful tone, "Back in Elmore, anything is possible. So I was a pet fish, and they... um, accidentally flushed me down the toilet, and I went all the way from the ocean to find them again."

"Mm?" Emmie tilts her head, "that sounds like a movie I used to watch, but the plot is backwards!"

Darwin laughs this time. "I know. But I did go all the way from the ocean to find my family. I grew lungs and legs from the love and hope that I felt that I would reunite with them. But when I finally found them, I watched as I almost got replaced with another fish." Cue a little dramatic gasp from Emmie.

"Almost," Darwin repeats. "My brother chased me out and we were reunited. But since then, I never thought that they really accepted me as their own. I'm still a pet that could easily be replaced."

"No, you're not!" The tiny puppy hugs the goldfish tightly. "They can't replace a fishy as special as you are! There's no other fishy who can grow lungs and legs so fast all for the love of their family. You're their family, too. They probably tried to get a new fishy because they missed you so much, and that couldn't possibly ease their pain... Being adopted makes no difference. You're still family to them."

Darwin is speechless. This two year old child had just belted out a whole speech about how he was irreplaceable to the Wattersons.

"And the ghost girl you love, I'm sure she misses you so, so much. Since she's a ghost, wouldn't it be funny if she went down here to look for you?" Her eyes twinkle as she drifts into a dreamlike state.

The fish just smiles. Carrie belonged to the mortal world, and even if she did try to find him, how could she pass through all of those death traps alone? The thought of her suffering for him was unbearable.

"Out of all the angels here, I think you're the nicest," the little girl beams.

"Hello," a different voice interrupts them.

Another girl stands in front of them, a spitting image of Emmie, but quite taller.

"Are you Emilia?" she asks the small girl Darwin was holding in both fins.

"Y-yes..." Emmie jumps a bit when Darwin puts her back on the ground. She studies the mirror image gazing back at her. "...Auntie?"

The older woman smiles. "Yes! That's me... I'm surprised that you remember me... We've been looking all over for you, Emmie."

A small group of others trail behind Emmie's aunt, all of them bearing some semblance to her.

This was her family. They'd been looking for her as she and Darwin had been looking for them.

Emmie walks to them, hesitating a moment and looking back to her "guardian angel".

He just laughs. "Go on."

She runs back and hugs him.

"Thank you, Darwin. I won't forget this."

And with that, she toddles back to her relatives and they walk away together.

That was the first time she'd used his name instead of 'mister guardian angel'. It was sweet.

They wave goodbye to each other, and the family just vanishes away over the hills.

Darwin was alone again, but not so sad anymore. He didn't mind that none of Emmie's relatives thanked him or even noticed his presence. It didn't matter. He didn't need that. He had fulfilled his task of being Emmie's 'guardian angel'. A little act of kindness always brightens everyone's day.

And Emmie had told him some important things to remember fondly about the life he used to live.

 _So shines a good deed in a weary world._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Carrie had found it.

Out of all of the millions of rooms in this castle, she had found the Book of Resurrection. Quite a bad timing for the servants of death to go after Gumball and Anais again. She heard them both screaming, calling her name, crying for help.

As she hurries out of the room with the ancient tome in both hands, she spots the siblings rushing her way, with the devious shadows not far behind, covering everything in sight with darkness, dripping off the walls like ink.

"Just follow me! I have the book!" she shouts to them, flying above Anais and Gumball and leading their way.

"Anais, why do you have a pocket watch?" Gumball asks out of the blue.

"You're choosing to ask me that now!?" Anais replies angrily.

The three ghosts run down the endless halls and twisted stairs in a futile attempt to escape the emotionless creatures, but with every turn, they are still close in pursuit.

As much as they try, they are still fruitless in a successful getaway. They are soon cornered, with the dark and its dozens of vapid white eyes glowing like stars in the night. Carrie is still invisible to them.

"We're not ready! We're not really dead!" Anais shouts.

"You are here, separated from your body and the mortal realm, therefore you are dead," came the listless response.

"But the potion-" Gumball starts, but the servants' voice of legion interrupts.

"Yes, yes. You believe you can return to your bodies whenever you wish, but as you should know, once you are here, you have no hope of returning. You must accept that you are gone from the mortal realm. It is too late to change your fate."

"That isn't true," the cat murmurs, his attempts to reason with the creatures useless.

"Many people have come here believing there was some mistake, thinking they are not meant to be dead, that we should allow them to return to their lives. But they are here, so they are dead. Why it cannot simply be accepted, we do not know. You foolish mortals do foolish things and believe that it should not kill you. But it does, and you look for a futile way to escape. Fate cannot be escaped from. It happens and it must be accepted. You have died and now is the time to give in. There is no return."

Carrie watches as Gumball and Anais hug, shaking from fear.

"You can't give up, you can't... They don't listen, but you can't just give in to what they want," she reasons, but receives no response.

She groans, opening up the Book of Resurrection to look for the correct incantation. The shadows seem to notice this, their eyes widening with disbelief.

"The Book of Resurrection... in the hands of the one trapped between realms...?"

Anais and Gumball look up in confusion. Carrie realizes the servants can see the book in her hands only when it is open.

"This is illogical... she was obliterated by the hydra..."

"She was not destroyed!" Anais pipes up. "We convinced it to let us enter."

"But it cannot-"

"And Carrie's going to bring Darwin back," Gumball adds. "There is a return. You just want us to give up and stay here for eternity. But now is not our time."

While the servants of death are bewildered beyond comprehension, Carrie speaks up.

"You two remember the way to summon any ghost, right?"

"No," Anais answers, confused.

"Oh, right. You were trapped in a painting when it happened," Gumball mutters.

"You just repeat their name five times. That's pretty much it," the ghost girl shrugs, "we can summon Darwin to us that way."

"Okay!" Anais steps closer to Carrie.

 _"No! Stop!_ Spirits must stay where they are sentenced! You _cannot_ toy with death in this way," the shadows begin to screech and wail in protest.

"Because this wasn't our real deaths," Gumball retorts. "You don't have complete control over everything and everyone here."

"Why do you even have a Book of Resurrection or anything 'forbidden' if you don't want anyone to use them? You simply want to keep even innocent souls like Darwin trapped down here alone, when he could return whenever he wanted and all he wanted was... to kiss me once," Carrie's anger at the cruel creatures only increases, "I can't possibly imagine how anyone could find any kind of fulfillment out of that!"

She looks down at the siblings, they nod back to her, and they repeat Darwin's name five times in unison as fast as they possibly can.

 ** _"NOOOOOOOOOOO-"_** the shadows are interrupted -and dispelled- by a _very_ bright light flashing into the room the instant the three ghosts children stopped speaking. Anais and Gumball shield their eyes, but Carrie just looks completely awed.

 _He's an angel._

"What just happened...?" A familiar voice inquires, "Where am I? Did someone call me...?"

"Darwin...?" Carrie whispers.

The moment he turns around, he is met with a passionate kiss on the lips.

* * *

 ***cue laugh track going "OOOOOOOO"***

 **This is it, guys. Next chapter... will be the final chapter.**


	16. Return

**This is it, guys. The final chapter... I finished this ridiculously fast...**

 **TheGuy456- Daww, thank you! I was worried that readers would find Emilia annoying, but I'm happy that wasn't the case...**

 **Villicus- Considering the labyrinths and the hydra attack, I highly doubt that they'd want to put Darwin through that. Thank you so much for your continued support! I hope to bring many more stories in the future!**

 **My whole neighborhood got flooded today, so why not finish this because I have nothing better to do.**

 **Edit: Added extra bits here. I was rushing to finish this and did not add things that I had meant to.**

 **I don't own the Amazing World of Gumball.**

* * *

 _His lips were sweet... the feeling from so long ago had returned to Carrie, but this time, she didn't know the difference between what was a dream and what was real. It just felt like bliss. Soft and warm, and she felt... alive._

When she [reluctantly] pulls away, Darwin is gazing at her with shock.

"Carrie..."

The ghost girl pauses to look at him again. It felt like it had been forever since she last saw his face, despite it only having been a day.

"You came...?" he finishes in a question. Emmie's suggestion had been correct. Carrie had gone through all of those horrifying trials, only for him.

...and his siblings had come along, too. So that's what the servants of death had meant. They weren't lying after all... His girlfriend and his siblings had all suffered for his sake.

"Gumball, Anais..." Darwin looks like he's about to cry now, this being a lot to take in all at once.

Carrie, Gumball, and Anais all wrap him in another hug, each of them smiling.

"You of all people should remember that I can come to the Underworld whenever I want," Carrie states quickly, "and Gumball and Anais took the same potion you did to come and find you, too. It wasn't any trouble at all. We'd come here and back for you, you know..."

Darwin is quiet for a moment before bursting into sobs and returning the embrace. "I-I'm sorry..."

"For what?" All three of them are perplexed by the sudden outburst.

"I was stupid enough to drink that potion and all of you went through all of those terrifying things for me...? You could have been wiped out of existence, and it would've been all because of me! Aren't you all angry at me?" The fish covers his face, cowering.

"What? No, we love you... Did you expect us to be mad?" Carrie inquires quietly, her tone sympathetic.

"Well, yeah..." Darwin mutters. "I endangered myself and you guys endangered yourselves for me... Aren't you?"

The ghost girl sighs. "Well, if you expect us to be so mad, then..."

She clearly pretends to look upset and points at the angel.

"You fool," she murmurs in a deadpan voice, "There, I was mad. Are we done here?" She hugs the fish again, "We couldn't be mad at you even if we wanted to be. All you wanted was to kiss me as a ghost again. You went to those lengths just for _me, "_ she blushes intensely, "you braved the Underworld for me..."

"W-well..." Darwin blushes as well, "so did you! And Gumball and Anais! But those mazes, the monsters, did they...?"

"They were nothing," Anais smiles, "nothing at all."

"We're just fine," Gumball adds.

"We would never give up on you. You're important and irreplaceable to all of us. And now that we have you back, we can finally go home to Elmore." Carrie holds out the Book of Resurrection, opening it to the page with the incantation she had been looking for, and resting the tome on the floor.

Darwin smiles cautiously, taking Carrie's hand. _It was warm..._

Anais takes Darwin's free fin, and Gumball takes her little paw.

The four of them smile at each other.

"Are you ready?" Carrie asks them, squeezing Darwin's fin gently.

"So, Darwin, you're like a... _literal_ angel fish now?" Gumball snickers.

His siblings glare back at the cat, frowning.

"You know, like not the _kind_ of fish, angelfish, but a literal-"

"Don't," was Darwin's simple reply.

An awkward moment of silence occurs between the four of them.

"So are we leaving this dump or what?" Carrie shrugs.

The siblings nod back to her, back to the subject at hand.

The ghost girl places her free hand on the correct incantation, the ink on the page flickering a pale green.

" _Esse_ _liberum et rursus... ex mortuis resurrexerit credent."_

A brilliant light shines above them, and they feel completely weightless, like nothing at all, as they rise up to the shining radiance. Passing in between realms...

And they'd left just in time, too. The ominous hourglass outside of the castle's last grain of black sand trickled to the bottom half, causing the hydra's bleak and stormy ocean to resurface and sink the castle into the depths of the sea, assimilating the shadows into the darkness.

The hydra searches for its "drowned victims" in vain, shocked that they had managed to escape.

Then the four children find themselves back in Carrie's house, in her room, and the light fades slowly. Still ghosts, but in the mortal realm. Everything looked completely normal. It was dark outside, 2 AM, the night after the incident.

"We need to return to our bodies," Anais shouts, pointing at the three empty costumelike forms, still out on the floor.

She and Gumball immediately repossess their bodies, glowing a bright green and opening their eyes slowly, as if both were waking up from some very long, deep sleep. They almost forget to breathe, having gotten used to not needing to.

Darwin approaches his body hesitantly, but Carrie stops him before he can repossess it, taking his fin.

"Um... Before you do that, can we...?"

The fish smiles, pressing his soft lips against hers before she can finish her sentence, reading her mind.

They held each other closely, relishing in the sweet warm feeling it gave them. It was at least a few minutes before they decided to let go.

"Finally," Darwin says cheerfully, "I got to do that again... Completely worth it," he beams, caressing the side of Carrie's face gently, "I'm... really gonna miss that."

"I am too," Carrie murmurs, blushing.

The ghost fish finally returns to his own body, flashing a bright white light as he manages to stand on his feet again, opening his big blue eyes.

Gumball and Anais hug their brother, laughing in relief.

"I'm just happy you're all safe," the ghost girl whispers, moving her hair out of her eyes with one arm.

Darwin steps toward Carrie again, pulling her into another embrace.

There they were met with a surprise.

Even between a spirit and a mortal being, when they touched...

 _it was still warm._

 _Perhaps it was only an illusion or only a fantasy to both of them. But perhaps there was more to it, somehow, the glorious sensation..._

 _A reward for proving the love that they shared was real. That a mortal and a spirit truly could connect and become one._

 _For proving what was considered impossible, to be truly possible._

 _For proving that true love can take you anywhere._

 _To the Underworld and back, sweet, genuine love still pushes on._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

END

* * *

 **well frick guys thanks so much for reading**

 **I apologize if this felt a bit rushed? but I spent a miniscule amount of time writing this and somehow it came out legit**

 **CREATIVE WRITING, YEEAAAAH**


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